Chicago's alternating, up-down, seesaw trend of late would appear to dictate a better day for crops on Friday.

And, in early deals at least, farm commodities were camped in positive territory. If not by far.

They were fighting against a stronger dollar, which gained a little ground on thoughts that gloomy prognoses for US unemployment data due later had been overdone. A firmer greenback makes prices of US exports such as crops less competitive.

Wen's words 

However, they gained something of a tailwind from China, which its premier, Wen Jiabao, said was not on the verge of a monetary squeeze which commodities merchants have feared would end up proving awful for business. China is the world's biggest importer of soybeans, for instance.

"We need to continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy," Wen said.

And, indeed, soybeans gained in Chicago, standing 3.25 cents higher at $9.45 ¼ a bushel for May at 08:00 GMT, and 1.5 cents to the good at $9.34 a bushel for March delivery.

Crops trapped 

But fresh fundamental news on crops was hard to come by, giving technical factors a higher profile, and the apparent entrapment of Chicago crop prices between their 20-day moving average, providing a floor, and 50-day line, representing a ceiling.

"Short covering one day, selling the next - that's what the wheat market may do for awhile," Mike Mawdsley at broker Market 1 said.

At rival broker Benson Quinn Commodities, Dave Lehl said: "Wheat is now near the bottom end of its trading range and will need help from the outside markets to go lower."

At least until next week, when the US Department of Agriculture releases its latest monthly report on world crop supply and demand, which may provide the surprises needed to shift crop markets into a different gear.

Wheat stood 1.75 cents higher at $5.03 ¾ a bushel for May delivery.

March corn was 1.5 cents higher at $3.73 ½ a bushel, with the May lot up 1.75 cents at $3.83 ¾ a bushel.

Data hopes 

It took palm oil to make signature gains, hitting a two-month high, amid expectations that a key industry conference next week will come up with bullish forecasts.

Meanwhile, a Reuters poll showed that traders believe official data on Wednesday will show Malaysian palm oil stocks falling by 5% for a second successive month.

Benchmark May palm oil stood up 16 ringgit at 2,690 ringgit a tonne, after touching 2,700 ringgit a tonne earlier.